Far and Away
by Sam Trieu
Summary: A young woman leaves Ireland with her landlord's daughter. Together they come to America, dream of owning land in the big give-away in Oklahoma, 1983. There, they struggle through hardships together and find out that they can't be separated. Will they be able to understand each other's feelings or will fate do its part? An adaptation of the movie Far and Away(1992).
1. Chapter 1

**AN**: Hello! This is an adaptation of the movie Far and Away (1992). After watching the film I find it fascinating that I need to dump my emotion into words, and what's better than letting my favorite OTP of all time to play the main characters of this story? Yeah, I did it! This is my first attempt to write fiction and English is not even my native language. So be gentle with me, key'? Anyway, read and don't forget to review. I feed on reviews, just so you know. Enjoy!

P/s: I don't have a Beta Reader so there may be some spelling and stuffs that are incorrect. That I apologize.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own MGLN and the movie Far and Away.

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><p><strong>Chapter 1<strong>

Precia Testarossa was sitting in a small pub, enjoying her glass of brandy when she heard shouts and yells over the pathway that led to the village. Soon, men and women from shops and houses on two sides of the road rushed out and hurried towards the same direction.

"Lads! That bloody landlord, Buntin's on his way in. All hell's breakin' loose!" Billy, an old man, clad in dirty clothes with bushy red hair and a bearded face, exclaimed.

"I hope they kill him." Precia yelled over her shoulders as she rushed out with several people followed suit.

There he was, the Buntin bastard and his fancy wagon, surrounded by the town people. He was struggling, waving his cane in hope of stoping those rocks and rotten tomatoes throwing at him. Had he known something like this would happen, he would have brought some men with him instead of an old servant. He had just returned from one of his lands to collect the money those farmers owed him. The task was easy but the way back was such a ruckus.

"Landlord, you sinner! Between your lungs there's neither heart nor spirit but the lump of your own swallowed money bag!" Precia bellowed. To say she resents these landlords is an understatement. She and her children, and perhaps the town's people, hold a deep hatred towards them. The landlords of Uminari were devils. Outside, they were the elegant ladies and gentlemen, but inside, they were a pack of greedy wolves who had claimed most of the lands and leased the poor farmers small part of their properties with exorbitant rents. They exploited the miserable people generations to generations. Some old families had lived and watched the land, their land, lost to the hands of the devils and they became the slaves, the tools for those bastards to enrich. One of those families was the Testarossa clan. Precia's husband, Joseph Testarossa, died before his twins were born out of a terrible disease that had spread all over the village almost 20 years ago. Left by only herself, the single mother did her best to raise two baby girls. It was hard and there were times she thought she would consider giving up.

"He'll never get over that one, Precia my dear." Danty laughed. Danty Duff was Joseph Testarossa's best friend. He did help Precia a little in raising the twins after her husband's decease. To him, Precia was always someone so admiring, so dazzling. She was strong and brave and wise that could put any men to shame. To him, she had a mind of a man and a heart of a woman. Such wonder!

"You're a blight on this country that never belonged to you!" a young man shouted, he hunched back to collect a rotten cabbage and in a sweep motion, swung his right arm with great force towards the wagon. The rotten and smelly thing hit its target right on the head. Buntin's head fell off of his bald head and pieces of cabbage stuck onto his nice-trim mustached face. And that was the last straw. Angrily pulling out a piston, Buntin fired into the sky in hope of sparring him some little space. Granted, the crowd immediately halted their action. The horses, upon hearing the gunfire, whinnied and bolted ahead. It happened so fast. They heard the distinct sounds of bricks crumbling and a small, quiet whimper. All eyes were too busy focusing on the wagon that no one saw what really happened except Danty. He witnessed everything. In the haste escape, the wagon accidentally hit one of the many decayed houses and caused the stones to fall, unfortunately, on Precia's head.

"Precia! Are you hurt, Precia?" Danty said worriedly. The old man paled when he saw blood dripping from Precia's forehead.

"Danty, take me home to my daughters." Precia managed to talk. She was breathing fast and her head felt like a raging storm. She needs to get home. Fast.

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><p>Miles away from the village, far away north, there was a gray field, decorated with a scattering of grass and rocks. A long stone hedgerow stretched along the coastline, rounded the corner to a humble stone house, situated at the back of the land, overlooking the sea. Fate was carrying two bags of compost on her back and two more were loaded on a donkey's. She hunched down to dumped the ones on her back onto the freshly furrowed soil before lifting back up to wipe a bead of sweat rolling down her left temple. Long golden hair, tied back loosely at the base with a simple black ribbon, shined brightly in the morning light. Her hair, which her mother used to say, rivaled the sun. Fate leaned back against her donkey. The blonde looked out into the sea. She dragged a tanned arm across her face to prevent some sunlight into her eyes and sighed. How many times had she woken up to be greeted by such clear blue sky? How many times had she stared longingly to the land far, far away from here, far away from her grasp? How many times had she dreamed of owning her own land, planting her own wheat and harvesting her own crop someday? Fate sighed again, burgundy eyes shimmering with hope.<p>

After a few minutes of letting her eyes wander away, she decided to get back to work. Just when she was about to unload the two bags on her donkey's back, the damn animal stepped back out of her reach. Fate moved forward and pulled at the rein, forcing the donkey to comply with her order. Backfire, the little donkey rushed forward and shoved its master back. The blonde fell flat on the ground, she cursed out loud as she grasped some soil and threw it at the traitorous donkey's direction.

"Alicia!" a red-headed young man called out nearby. He had watched Fate worked for a while and when the blonde planted her face on the ground by a stupid donkey, there he had it.

"What?" Alicia, a young fine woman who looked exactly like Fate: golden hair, wined-red eyes except for her skin was paler and she was a little shorter than her twin, answered as she stepped out of the house.

"Will you look at your little sister? She can't keep hold of her ass." The man snorted. Ronald Donovan was Alicia and Fate's cousin. He was Joseph's nephew and lived not far away from the Testarossas. He was a drunkard, a good-for-nothing brat. All he did was drinking and spending money on whores. Where he got the money for, no one in town knew except Alicia. She and Ronald had been hanging out with the spoiled kids in town since she was 15. She was reported spending the night at a brothel outside of town one night and there, she got involved in some fight for the "girls". Their mother was furious at this. She was so mad she had almost disowned her birth child however, thanks to Fate's soft words and constant pleadings, she had calmed her nerves.

Everyone in this humble town knew about Alicia's preference. She would date girls, talk and walk like a man. Despite the fact that she was a woman, village maidens would line up at her feet just to get a glimpse of the "Testarossa dazzling smile". There was something about Alicia that made women weak in the knees, not that Fate cared. The only thing the younger blonde cared about was her mother and working the land. Precia was proud, very proud of her hard-working, headstrong baby daughter. Even though they were poor and miserable, they had each other and to Fate, that was enough.

"Sweetheart of a child, slaving away." Alicia approached with a smirk. "ls it not enough, Fate, you plowed all that muck down there?"

"My ambition's a little grander than yours." The taller blonde spat back. "A couple of lazy cows."

"Oh, ambition, is it?" Alicia mocked. "To break your back on land that isn't your own? It belongs to the landlord Takamachi." True enough, the Takamchi family is the richest and the most powerful in this land. Shiro Takamachi, the landlord of Fate's family, he leased a piece of his lands to Fate's father and by every year, sent men to collect the rent. However the tax was too high that Joseph Testarossa could not afford to pay. He died and left the debt to Precia and their children. And now that Fate was older, she intended to pay that debt and if possible, buy out the land.

"Hold your face up, lassie." Ronald said in his drunken voice. He reached out a hand and slightly slapped at Fate's face. Burgundy orbs turned blood-red as Fate looked back at him as if she was trying her best to suppress the urge to murder. "Now, come on. Give us something we can aim at." Alicia played along. Fate knew exactly what they meant though she had no wish to satisfy their demand. After all, she had a field to farm and a debt to pay.

"Just shag off, the pair of you. There's a goat over there," Fate flipped her head, indicated where she was referring to. "Go improve your love life."

"Now, come on, Fate honey." Alicia stopped Fate by getting in the younger blonde's face, devilish smirk still in place. "Just a nosebleed's all we're asking."

Knowing there was no way she could escape these fools' request, Fate lowered her voice to just a whisper but made sure the others could hear her well. "I've no wish to fight you." And as fast as a lightning, she bolted her fist up under Ronald's chin, sending his face backward.

"Try pummeling me, you arrogant son of a bitch!" Alicia screamed in excitement. Ignoring her partner who was lying on the ground, groaning, face covered in blood, she charged forward, fists in the air aiming at Fate. The older twin intended to do a mock punch on her sister's left cheek but as she threw her fist up, the younger blonde had made a quick motion and in an instant, disappeared from Alicia's vision. As fascinating as one could see, Fate hunched down to dodge her sister heavy punch, swiftly turned her body to 90 degree and as the same time struck her other enemy, who had just recovered from the earlier punch and were coming at full speed to reinforce his comrade, in the belly. Being struck twice in such short time, the bastard clutched at his stomach, gasping loudly for air. Fate was distracted by the noise and Alicia took this as a chance to strike her from behind. She jumped Fate and using all of her strength, she threw her sister by her shoulders away for a good few feet. The fight continued as the three young adults wrestling and screaming and laughing like crazy.

Just when Fate was about to perform her final blow, someone called out from afar. "Lass, your mother's been damaged!" It was Danty Duff, he had come back with an injured Precia. "You're here, dear." The three immediately halted whatever they were doing. Fate rushed to the carriage in which Precia was lying unconscious. "Ma!" Her face failed and she could feel her blood running cold as she moved close to inspect her mother. She was as pale as a ghost, her lips were dry and she was mumbling to herself as if she was going through terrible a nightmare.

After some much-needed time to carry Precia into the house, there were only three people left, the twins and Danty Duff. Ronald had freaked out and ran home, not that Fate wanted him there, especially in this situation. They placed their mother in the long wooden dinning table that had faded by the cruel hand of time. Fate washed a towel and put it on her mother's forehead while Alicia was pretending to listen to old Danty's rambling. He flashed back to the time when they were younger, he, Precia and Joseph, together with a few men they raided a landlord's mansion and ended up being captured and beaten til near dead. That was almost 30 years ago, when Fate and Alicia still weren't born. "And l killed off a fair share myself, to tell the God's truth- "Quiet, Danty Duff, for once." Poor man didn't have a chance to finish his sentence as Fate scolded him. Her mother didn't look at all well and she couldn't rest if someone kept talking non-stop like such. Her mother was old and she knew it. Precia was both physically and metally strong but as years went by, even the strongest horse who survived the harsh winters would eventually surrender to its hoary age. Never in her life had Fate felt so afraid. She tried her best to push away those negative thoughts but deep down inside, she knew she would have to acknowledge the truth, soon. "How are you feeling, ma?" The blonde wiped some beads of sweat away from her mother's temples, she reached out and grasped her hand, it was as cold as ice. "My soul is departing from me, Fate." Precia breathed.

"Don't you talk that way." Fate scolded, this was not the time to say such thing. No, not now, she wasn't ready.

"I'll talk any way I please. I'm dying, I tell you!" the violet-hair woman grunted, she intended to make it easier but her stubborn Blondie would not have it.

"Well, you can't die. We need you here, ma." Burgundy searched dark violet desperately, shimmering in the dimly lit room. "Need me? What for?" Precia laughed. Certainly they don't need her anymore. They had grown into fine young women, they can take care of themselves well. What she was regretting right this moment is that she'd never been a good mother to her children. They grew up in poverty, there were days when there was nothing to eat, nothing to keep warm. Precia smiled to herself as she recalled the time when her twins were 10, it was a freezing day in mid December and she was sick. Mother and daughters hadn't eaten anything in 2 days except for gruel. And her Fate, she still remembered, so little and so thin had gone out til dusk and brought home a haunch of venison. The little blonde girl avoided her mother's eyes, saying she had picked it on her way down town. The still-sick mother knew all too well her little thing was lying by looking at the slightly freaked-out face and fidgety posture but she was too tired to press on at the moment and they really needed that haunch to eat. So she decided she would have a conversation with her daughter later. After the good meal, Precia'd never felt so much better. Guess when you're sick, all you need is a piece of meat, thought the violet-hair woman. That night, with soft words and much-needed encouragement, Fate finally told her mother everything. She stole the meat from a butcher's in town when he was bargaining with a customer. Precia was really upset but when she saw those teary red eyes, she couldn't bring herself to punish the girl. They were starving and she did the only thing all children her age would do. Instead, she pulled the little girl into her arms and murmured in her daughter's ears that even though they're poor, they never steal, and that stealing is a sin and God will punish ones who commit the crime. Fate cried herself to sleep that night in her mother's strong embrace, promising herself and her mother that she would never do it again.

"Her beautiful eyes were a terrible curse…" Precia breathed out a heavy sigh and she stopped breathing. All occupants in the room held their breath, the air suddenly went dry and cold. "God bless your soul, poor Precia Testarossa." Danty cried, he took off his hat, face downcast.

"We'd be as well to sell off a thing or two now that she's gone." Alicia said quietly after a while, not precisely to anyone but rather to herself.

"Is that any way to keen over the death of our mother?" Fate asked incredulously. Her eyes widened as she stared at her twin sister. How can she possibly say something like that in this kind of moment, thought the younger blonde. "Misery's a personal matter, Fate." Alicia scoffed, claret eyes stared right into burgundy ones. "Sure, she's left us with a huge debt of rent on the land." Fate turned away, she couldn't bring herself to continue to look into those cold red eyes. "We'll begin to settle our debt when we harvest the land." She crossed the room to get something to cover her mother's still body when she heard a snort. "Grow the potatoes and pick them yourself, Fate, you ambitious baby girl!" "You son of a-" The taller blonde gritted her teeth and was about to charge at Alicia when a hand shot out and grabbed at her wrist. "Fate!" Precia exclaimed. Yes, it was her mother and she was talking.

"Jesus and the saints preserve us! We thought you died, Ma." Fate let out a yelp. Just then her heart was about to jump out of her chest. "I did, kiddo. I passed away." Precia smiled, she never felt so awake, so alive.

"But you're talking to us, Ma. And your eyes- they're looking about." The younger twin cautiously stepped closer but still kept some distance away from the lying woman. She still couldn't believe in her eyes, her mother, who was dead a moment ago, now talking as if she'd never been hit.

"I was as dead as a stone, I tell you." She said dreamily as if she was reminiscing about her earlier adventure. "Now shut your mouth before l die again. Come here!" Reluctantly, the blonde bent down and were grabbed by the shoulders. "You're an especially odd girl." Precia stroked her daughter's hair affectionately, Fate reminded her so much of her late husband. "You came back from the dead to tell me that I'm odd?" Fate whispered, eyes stared blankly at her mother's strange words. "You have all kinds of oddities… clattering around in your brain. So had your father when he was as young as you." Violet eyes glittered with love, oh, how she misses Joseph. "But dreams, my girl, in this poor corner of the world...end up in a glass of ale." She sighed, her voice trailed with a slight disappointment.

"No. Not my dreams, Ma. I'll work my own land someday." Fate said determinedly, red irises showed no hesitancy.

"Without land, a man is nothing. That's it. Yeah. Land is a man's very own soul." Precia looked Fate in the eyes, she smiled and continued to stroke the blonde's face. If her Fate says she can do it then she can do it. She had no doubt, she never had doubt on her young blonde. She knew from the day she first hold a crying baby, she knew her child would make her proud. "A miracle- that's what you're looking for. And by God, if you manage it...your old ma and da will be smiling down on you..." she turned away, looking remotely. "…from heaven above."

"Her beautiful eyes

Were a terrible-"

The words died away as she drew her last breath. She could never complete the song, the one her husband used to sing when he was still alive.

"God rest your soul, Ma." Fate said quietly. She would not cry for she would not let her mother from above worry over her. She would make her smile from heaven, that she promised herself.

"God bless your soul, Precia." Danty let out a sob. The old man took off his hat again and for the last time that day.

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><p><strong>AN: <strong>Nanoha will show up in the next chapter, and there will be some NanoFate moment. Rating may change as the story progresses. See ya next chapter.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN:** Hi everyone! Here it is, chapter 2. Read and review.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing here.

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><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

Everything happened in a blur to Fate. She had a very vague idea about the events of yesterday. She recalled that her mother had had a proper burial and their house was burnt down by the landlord's dogs for not paying the rental they owed. What happened next was in autopilot mode and now the blonde found herself in a pub far away from her village. She didn't know why she was here. She was sure that she got some business to take care of, something's really important and somehow it related to revenge and anger. She remembered Alicia's laughing face, the town's people making fun of her and yet she could not decipher the reason. Maybe she should stop drinking. The dark yellowish liquid was killing her mind.

Dark red eyes wandered around the room and found all its occupants laid eyes on her. Some men stole a glance at her and then to the thing on her right. Fate frowned and looked to her side, her draw dropped when she recognized "the thing" that had drawn everyone's attention. It was a training rifle, a very old and rusty one. It was so old that the upper part looked as if it was about to fall out every second.

Something clicked in Fate mind. Now she remembered, now she knew why she was so far away from home. She was going to assassinate her landlord, Shiro Takamachi. She wanted justice for what he'd done to her family, to her father and her house. How dare they burn their house, thought the blonde. How dare they burn away all those memories, memories of the happy time when her mother was still alive. Fate gritted her teeth, once she found the bastard, she would have him begging for life.

"God bless you, everyone." A jet-black hair man, clad in a fancy suit with a bright red jacket over a checked gray vest, accentuated by an amber bow, stepped inside. "Whiskey for everyone!" He took off his black silken top hat and hung it in the wall nearby.

Men cheered as they were offered a free round of drinks, the mood had been lightened a little. Not Fate. The blonde didn't think she could drink anymore, not when she was going to kill someone. She needed her mind to stay clear though she appreciated the man's generosity.

"How are you, sir, tonight?" a middle-age man asked.

"Oppressed. That's the word for me." The gentleman let out an exasperating sigh. "I live in a house that's stuffy and dull...and worse, I've a wife who forbids me to drink."

"God help you." Someone patted him on the back to show his sympathy.

If this was really the man's situation, Fate felt sorry for him. Apparently, he got the money but couldn't enjoy it. What a wife he has, the blonde pondered.

"Your good health, sir."

"Good health, Mr. Takamachi."

Fate almost dropped the glass. Surely, her ears didn't trick her in hearing things. This was Shiro Takamachi, her landlord. The kind and generous man before her was her enemy, the one she intended to punish. The tall, tanned blonde wasn't sure why suddenly Shiro Takamachi turned his attention to her. There might be two reasons. One, she was a woman who carried a rifle with her to such a place and two, because she was staring intensely at him.

"Liven up, girl." Mr. Takamachi exclaimed. "You're too young to be brooding in your ale." His face softened. To tell the truth, he was surprised to see such a young girl, probably his daughter's age, would wander around with a gun. Not that he had anything against women using guns but it was still very dangerous in this time of the day for a fine little thing like her to be in men's places.

"What places you in this small chapter of the world?"

"…"

Not receiving any responds, the man urged on. "Must be one of two things: enterprise or love." He laughed out loud.

"It isn't love. Rest assured of that." Fate growled. Did the man not know that she was about to shoot him, well later, but the result would be the same: he would be dead. The blonde tried to calm her nerves, she would not ruin her plan right now just because a soon-to-be dead man was messing with her.

"Then you're an ambitious girl!" the landlord exclaimed, his eyes widened in amusement.

"Like myself, a man of business. But I warn you…it's brought me nothing but misery. I'm lost in a fog of commerce and compromise." He sighed regretfully. There were wrinkles on his forehead when looked up close, showing the tiredness of a man who had been through many unhappy memories. "I'd trade it all away for minutes of freedom."

"Freedom is a rare thing in these parts." Fate murmured to herself. She didn't know that there was such thing called "freedom".

"It is. It is, indeed."

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><p>Fate didn't remember when she left the pub. She had stalked the landlord Takamachi til the moon was high above her head and the man didn't even know he was followed for he was too drunk to distinguish whether it was a man or a tree. In his current drunken state, Shiro considered himself lucky for still remembering his way home. They had arrived at the front gate of the Takamachi mansion.<p>

"Oh, no. Here we are- home. I recognize these hedges by their dullness." The landlord mumbled to his horse. He continued singing as he walked through the gate to his home, completely unaware of the shadow hiding behind a stone statue.

Fate was ready, she brought the rifle at eye level and aimed at the walking man. Her finger was at the trigger, all she needed was to pull the thing but the blonde couldn't bring herself to do it. She found herself shaking terribly as her target was walking leisurely further and further away. Hold herself up, she refocused on her target but as she was about to push the trigger, her goddamn donkey decided that he would not wait for his master anymore. Abruptly, he turned his head away, accidentally dragging his blonde master by the hand. The red-eye assassin cursed under her breath at how stupid she was, tying her hand in the rein, as she was dragged like a doll a good few feet away. She untangled her hand from the rein and hurried back to the spot behind the statue to find that the man was no longer in her vision.

"This is a difficult murder." Fate said breathlessly. She decided to sneak inside the mansion and wait for her chance. As she came out of one of the giant bushes that were supposed to be a hedge, the view before her was breath-taking. A white castle-liked, three-story mansion lied imposingly ahead. A gravel path, rounded an impossibly big pond, to finally stopped at the main entrance. Never in her life had Fate seen something as beautiful and majestic as the villa before her.

That night, while lying in one of the many stalls in the barn, for the first time in her life, Fate felt envy.

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><p>She awakened to the sounds of horse heaving and someone yelling. Looking out of the small window, she could make out two figures and by the voices she assumed they were both women.<p>

"Nanoha, I saw you galloping in the fields." The older woman called out. "Dignity, Nanoha, dignity. A lady must always be civilized, even when she rides."

"No one saw me riding, Mother." The other said. Fate ears perked up. It was a rich melodious voice, though slightly annoyed, which reminded her of the Christmas carol she'd once heard since she was a small child.

"I saw you!" the mother screeched. Looking at the woman face, although from a distance, the blonde could clearly see she was furious.

"Yes, Mother." The girl replied haft-heartedly. Her back was facing the blonde so she couldn't make out the girl's features. Fate found herself admiring the other girl's figure. She had an athletic body under that long green dress, with all the right curves. Her gloved hands were small and fragile and Fate didn't think she could keep hold of the rein. She wasn't very tall to be precise, probably haft a head shorter than her, thought the blonde. Then again, Fate was thought to be the tallest woman in town, she was even taller than some men. There were times when she felt ashamed about her unusual height. Her mother had scolded her for this. Oh, how she miss her!

Sounds of foot steps brought Fate out of her reverie. She abruptly knelt down, slowly backed away from the window. Someone was at the gate, it was the girl named Nanoha.

''A lady must always be civilized.'' She mimicked her mother's voice. "She never leaves us alone, does she?" Nanoha asked her horse as she led the animal to its stall. "No. She doesn't." Fate smiled at the girl's display of annoyance. Something about the landlord's daughter put her at peace and at the same time, intrigued her.

Fate cautiously rose to her feet. She sneaked a look at the other occupant of the room through the gaps on the stall's door and her breath was caught. Before her was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. Rich, rich auburn hair cascaded over small shoulders as she sat down on a wooden box, head leaning back against a stall. Pale skin, soft to the touch, was glowing in the early morning light. Light blush accentuated her high-defined cheek bones as she was fanning herself repeatedly. Luscious pink lips was doing funny thing to Fate's stomach as the girl slightly opened her mouth. What captured Fate's soul was those brilliant azure orbs, staring at the ceiling, deep in thoughts. The blonde wondered if the young woman before her was what people referred to as an angel for she believed she was seeing one right now.

Fate Testarossa had never thought animals would hate her, especially birds because a pigeon above her head had just sent an alarm by flying off away. The auburn hair beauty did not miss that. She stood up abruptly and looked about. The red-eyes girl just managed to duck down in barely seconds before sharp blue eyes swept over her spot.

"Is some body there?"

Nanoha picked up a horseshoe at her feet and threw it over the stall in which she'd heard a sound earlier. The thing came flying and hit the ceiling to land right at Fate's left foot. Still, the blonde didn't move.

After a while, Fate heard foot steps walked out of the barn and breathed out a sigh of relief. She looked down at her foot and picked up the horseshoe. Is this some kind of luck, the blonde pondered. She was inspecting the steel ring when a rake came out of no where, stabbing at the stall's door, barely missed her's head. Burgundy eyes widened in horror as she clumsily stood up and ran out of the stall. But before she could run any further, a rake was pointed at her.

"Stay right where you are." Nanoha warned. "Don't flutter an eyelid or I'll stab you. I'll stab you through." Sapphire looked defiantly at burgundy. It was an exact ten-minute starring contest between the assassin and the landlord's daughter. Fate didn't know what to do at the moment. The auburn hair girl looked so much more gorgeous up close and she had this strange urge to run her hand through those silky locks of brown. Finally, Nanoha was the one who ended the starring contest.

"Father!" the landlord's daughter frightened her stranger as she suddenly screamed. Fate was startled and she did the stupid next move. The blonde ran forward and received a stab in her right thigh as the auburn beauty accidentally let loose of her rake.

"…!"

"Jesus." Fate groaned aloud. She looked at Nanoha in disbelieve. She'd never thought such a fragile girl would have stabbed her, and she stabbed her hard.

"Father, help!" Nanoha didn't forget to pull the rake out of Fate's thigh before running and screaming for her farther.

"Father! I've been all but raped and slaughtered!"

"What is it? What's the fuss about?" Shiro Takamachi and his wife rushed out, their face were that of fright and confusion.

"In the stables!"

"Mr. Shiro Takamachi."

"Y-yes?"

"I'm Fate Testarossa… of the family Testarossa that you pushed off our land." Fate limped painfully off the stables, without forgetting to carry the rusty rifle with her.

"What in the name of God are you talking about?"

"Prepare to pay for your crimes." Burgundy eyes flickered with anger as the golden blonde lifted up the rifle to her eye level and aimed at the landlord.

They heard an explosion, preceded by a gunfire. Shiro Takamachi opened his eyes to see he was still alive and found a young blonde lying unconscious on the ground a few feet away. Apparently, the rusty gun had backfired at Fate, literally. Her face was hit by the gun's barrel and now she swore she was seeing stars.

"Quickly, find Mr. Scrya and bring him here. Go!"

In her hazy state of mind, she could make out someone was yelling and sounds of foot steps invaded her ears. The last image she saw was that of a blurry auburn hair woman and then her vision turned dark.

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><p><strong>AN<strong>: next chapter will be out slower than the previous ones. I'm sorry but I gotta work on my assignments in college or I'll be failing again. 'Til nest time!


	3. Chapter 3

**AN:** Hey guys, I'm back! Sorry for the late update, it's been a week, eh? Anyway, here's chapter 3. Read and don't forget to review.

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><p><strong>Chapter 3<strong>

Nanoha stared at the unconscious half-naked lying blonde whose face was covered in smuts from the earlier explosion. They had moved the stranger to a spare room in the house and now her mother was tending to her wound, which was given by the auburn-hair beauty.

"Look how black her fingers are, Mother."

Her mother and the maids had removed the blonde's black cotton trousers and the braces but left her shirt on. Her clothes were dirty and Nanoha wondered when was the last time the blonde took a bath. Despite the fact that the blonde was wearing men clothes, she could see there was a suggestive swell of breasts under that sweat-dampened shirt. The auburn-hair girl blushed when she realized she was gazing intensely at the other girl's chest. She mentally thanked her mother for covering the blonde's lower half with a thin blanket.

"Never mind her fingers. She's a low-born blatherskite of filth."

"If she's so worthless, then why are you bothering to dress her wounds?"

"Our duty is to restore her to full health," Her mother replied. She put on a brown leather gloves with a frown on her face. "So she can hear her own neck crack when she dangles from the hangman's noose." As she was about to pull the blanket down the blonde's thighs so she could take a closer look at the injury, the woman paused as if she remembered something.

"Turn away, Nanoha, and protect the innocence of your eyes."

Nanoha reluctantly turned around. She couldn't understand why her mother was being so fretful. They were all women, and what kind of that "innocence" she was talking about? The girl humphed and walked to the dresser nearby.

"Of all the days to intrude upon our peaceful life." Momoko Takamachi let out an exasperating breath as she pulled down the blanket. She had done this before, frequently, dressing Shiro's wounds every time he came back from a hunting session. She could not comprehend why he enjoyed said activity so much. To her, it was dangerous and time-wasting.

"The ladies are coming by this afternoon for tea." Momoko said, breaking the silence.

"I'm feeling very sick all of a sudden." Nanoha sighed. She dreaded every minute she had to endure in the tea room whenever the "ladies" came over. Oh, how she hated entertaining those old garrulous women whose subjects they talked about were of proper manners and the dresses and many kinds of stupid things. She didn't understand how her mother could stand those women. Then again, her mother could be counted as one of those so-called "ladies". In her mind, a woman should be allowed to do so much more. For instance, a woman should learn how to shoot instead of tea manners. She has to know how to protect herself from who knows what's going on out there. And a woman could ride a horse whenever she wants, wherever she likes without her mother saying it's inappropriate.

"Mind yourself, Nanoha. Those ladies are models of manners and behavior." The older woman chided. "There."

Nanoha turned around to see her mother had draped a piece of cloth over the private area of the unconscious blonde. Now she can see how messy the wound was. There was three round tiny holes made by the rake and blood was dripping down on two sides of her thigh. She almost felt sorry for the blonde if her eyes hadn't wandered too high up. Nanoha could make out under that unintentionally thin cloth there was a subtle curve to the hips and a dark triangle of blond hair at the base of her toned abdomen. Her eyes roamed down two firm muscular thighs, slightly glistened with a mixture of sweat and blood. The auburn-hair girl found herself blushing for the second time that day. She didn't know why the blonde had such great effect on her. She told herself that it was because she'd never seen a woman dressed in men clothing and that she was just curious. She tried to deny the truth that the fascinating stranger had stirred something deep down inside.

The sound of broken glass downstairs broke her trance of thinking. There was some movement and someone was shouting.

"Nothing happened. A poor, misguided robin has broken a windowpane. I was merely dusting the liquor cabinet." Nanoha heard her farther said. She smiled inwardly at how silly he was, made up such lame excuse for his drinking affair.

"What a manufactured lie." Her mother sighed. She dropped a fresh white strip of bandage she was holding on the bedside table and hurried outside, heading downstairs to where the commotion was.

Nanoha waited for her mother's voice to disappear completely out of her earshot and slowly, she moved closer to the bed. She stopped for a moment then knelt at the bedside. There, she watched the sleeping blonde. Even though caked in dirt, the blonde's face was beautiful, Nanoha noted. Sculpted eyebrows slightly furrowed, long eyelashes fluttered as sweat rolled down her temples. Dry pink lips opened slightly and she seemed to mumble something incoherent. A sweat made its way to the blonde beauty's dimpled chin and slowly ran down her tanned neck.

Nanoha absent-mindedly licked her lip. She felt her face grew hot all of a sudden and the air, as well, turned humid. Sapphire eyes wandered down ample chest to a flat toned stomach and stopped again at the area where a thin cloth was draped over. Her traitorous hand reached for the hem of the cloth. She had this strange urge to see what was underneath. She needed to see.

Just when she was about to lift it up, crimson eyes flutter opened. Nanoha immediately let go of the cloth, she looked at the blonde in panic.

"You're having a dream. This isn't really happening." She whispered urgently and tried to stand up.

With lightning speed, the blonde grabbed the young woman, pulling her close so that their faces were inches apart. Nanoha was speechless for one her mouth was covered by a rough hand and two she was too stunned by the fact that she could feel the other girl's hot breath all over her face.

"I want my land." She muttered before falling back to sleep.

Nanoha stared at the girl for a moment before bolting right up as her mother made her way back to the room.

"What became of the man I married? Some other man's replaced him and goes about with his name." Momoko cried. She looked at her daughter to receive a shrug as the girl walked out of the room.

* * *

><p>Nanoha Takamachi was beyond bored. She was now sitting in the tea room with her mother's "ladies".<p>

"A murderous insurgent under your own roof!"

"How horrible!"

"She's as ugly as sin," Momoko said as she offered the women tea. "And the most vicious creature I've ever set eyes upon."

Nanoha rolled her eyes at her mother exaggerated display. Opposed to her mother thoughts, she found the blonde was the most intriguing thing she had ever encountered. She would go upstairs right now to watch the girl again if these old women wouldn't swarm around her like flies.

"Did you get a look at her, Nanoha?"

"A peek." The auburn-hair girl smiled bashfully. She knew all too well that she did not just have "a peek" at the sleeping beauty upstairs.

"Nanoha, what is your collar doing?" Momoko interrupted.

"It's choking me." Nanoha reached for her unbuttoned collar and whispered. Let her be damned but the stupid high-designed collar was tightening around her throat and she couldn't breathe.

"Well, do it up. Better to choke than to be vulgar." The older woman fixed the girl with a steady gaze as she was doing up her daughter's button. Nanoha was cursing inwardly at nothing in particular when she heard someone at the main door.

"I hear a sound." A woman uttered.

"Let us hope it's Yunno Srcya." Momoko commented. She moved past her daughter to stand behind the other women.

"We've come for your prisoner, Mr. Takamachi." Nanoha knew who that voice belonged to. She shrank back with a great dread in her heart. Yunno Scrya, of all people! He would never leave her be. She knew he had laid eyes on her, and of course, her father's estate, too and he would never back down if he didn't get what he had aimed for.

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Takamachi. Good afternoon, ladies." Yunno smiled sweetly as he stopped at the threshold of the tea room to pass his hat to a servant and stepped inside. He was tall and had long thin blond hair, a dull color, tied back at the base of his neck. Green round glasses made he look wiser and even more mature compare to his age. He was wearing a light green suit with a yellow silk tie and Nanoha wondered how can green be that boring whenever the man appeared in one.

"Speak of the sun and we see its rays." Momoko smiled back, eyes shimmering in delight.

"Oh, my goodness, we were so frightened." The women began their non-stop rambling about how scared they were and that they needed more protection. Sapphire eyes darted to the ceiling in annoyance. Seriously, can these women shut up for a second? She began to feel her veins popping out of her temples.

"Keep calm. You're safe and protected. Go back to your sinful card playing." He said a little too seductively and Nanoha couldn't help but felt slightly disgusted. But the women were enjoying his flirty little joke and giggling like schoolgirls together. Yunno was pleased to see the ladies took in his presence well but what captured him at the moment were not them, it was a young woman with auburn hair and a slightly annoyed face.

"Hello, Nanoha." He looked at her affectionately, seductive smile still in place. He walked pass the old women gracefully and stood before her, his eyes never left hers.

"Hello Yunno." Nanoha forced a smile. One reason she didn't like being near the man was because her jaws felt terribly sore as she strained them to smile for him every time he said something that was supposed to be funny.

"My, how handsome he is." Nanoha heard a woman exclaimed. She suppressed the urge to roll her eyes for Yunno was looking at her intensely.

"He's a brilliant young man. He was educated at Uminary College. He manages all my husband's business affairs." And there went her mother, praising him to high heaven. Yeah, right. She knew he was talented and smart and good-looking and was the dream man of all high-class young women. Her mother had been saying how lucky she was to have such a gentleman cared deep for and that she and her father would want nothing else than to see her as his wife someday. Nanoha shuddered as she envisioned herself being married off to Yunno Scrya. Thoughts of everyday doing the weaving stuff, smiling for him whenever he talked filled her brain. And at night- She violently shut down the chain of images her mind was creating.

"Nanoha, the ladies and I would like you to play the piano." Momoko's voice cut through her thoughts as the older woman smiled warmly at her daughter.

Sapphire eyes turned dull as she heard her mother's demand. The young woman was tempted to turn her mother down but to disobey her means no more riding in the morning and she'd be dead if she forbade her the only sanity in this house. So she complied with the request. Auburn hair shined glossily as the sunlight through the ceiling-high windows hit her sitting figure as the young woman's long slender fingers glided gracefully on the piano keyboard, playing Beethoven's famous hit: The Moonlight Sonata. All occupants of the room froze, the servants paused whatever they were doing as if they were hypnotized by the beautiful music. Suddenly, the auburn-hair beauty stopped dead. She paused for a moment as if to contemplate something then with a much faster pace, her delicate hands were on the piano again, gliding frenziedly.

"Good gracious, child." Momoko exclaimed in pure shock.

"It's band music, Mother. It's very modern. It's from America." Nanoha replied, grinning. She could feel the excitement consuming her mind, her body. Sapphire eyes glittered with joy as her fingers thumbing a little too hard on the keyboard. She felt so wild and free whenever she played this song.

* * *

><p>Fate was broken out of her dreaming state when she heard someone playing a piano. Whoever playing this was magnificent because even though Fate had no idea which song it was, she felt her heart dancing within her chest. She looked down and found she was naked from the waist down and her right thigh was freshly bandaged. Not bothering giving a thought about the state she was in, the blonde looked about and found her cloths were hanging at the back of a chair. She hastily dressed and made her way to the door. She felt a little painful when she moved but compare to her initial state, it was way better.<p>

As she turned the doorknob she realized that the door was locked from the outside. Fate cursed under her breath and moved about to find something that could help her escape. The young blonde looked out the window to find she was far high from the ground and with her injured leg, there was no way she could jump down. She turned back to face the room. There was nothing hard enough for her to break the door. Fate cursed again. If she couldn't get out of here, she would be dead by tomorrow for her attempt to murder a person, worse of all, a landlord.

Burgundy eyes landed on some spare bandages that weren't used and her mind clicked. The blonde grabbed the white strips of cloth and hurriedly wrapped her right hand with them. She kept on winding the cloth around her hand until it was thick enough and got back to the door. Using all her strength, Fate punched a hole through the wooden door to be left feeling a little numb in the knuckles. Fate thanked her sister silently. All those days practice punching Alicia and the bastard-of-a cousin made her fists stronger and harder.

The blonde stumbled downstairs, trying her best to keep as quiet as possible. Her plan was to escape the mansion without a trace just like the way she had entered it. There were only a few stairs left and Fate would be on the ground but she stopped dead. Burgundy turned blood-red as the blonde caught sight of her enemy. Though it was a blur memory to her, Fate could never forget the face of the bastard that burned her house, Yunno Scrya. She felt her blood boiling and the only thought within the blonde's mind right now was to kill.

As she hastily made her way down, claret collided with sapphire. In an instant, Fate swore she felt electricity ran through her body. The effect was so strong that she tripped and the next thing Fate knew, she was lying on her stomach, face flat on the ground. She suppressed the groan that threatened to escape her mouth as she saw Yunno Scrya approaching.

"Nanoha, stay back." The tall man commanded when he saw the auburn-hair girl stood up and walked to the direction of the dirty blonde. Nanoha gave him a cold glare but stopped anyway. After all, she didn't know what that blonde stranger could do. She might harm her if she got any closer.

"Careful, kid. Your life's worth little as it is." Yunno warned as he watched Fate struggled to get up.

"You're the bastard that burned my mother's house." Throwing him a death glare, the red-eye girl growled under her breath.

"I've burned many houses in the line of duty. Am I meant to remember yours?" The man chuckled. The girl almost got his pity.

Lightning hands reached out underneath Yunno and pulled hard at the rug he was standing on. Too stunned at the quick move, the blond man couldn't keep his balance and fell flat on the ground with a thud. He tried to get up immediately but Fate was faster. She jumped up and stepped on his neck with her right foot, pinning him down even more to the floor.

"Maybe you'll remember this." Fate hissed and spat on his face.

Yunno's man came in and hit the blonde rebel's still injured thigh with his gun barrel, making her cried out in agony. It hurt so much that the blonde couldn't stand anymore. She dropped to the floor and groaned out loud, hands hugging her thigh.

Yunno got up, his face turned purple as the blood rushed to his head. "Pistols, tomorrow at dawn." He wiped his face with a handkerchief and threw it at the writhing blonde on the floor. "Get her upstairs." He yelled. With other two men, they carried the blonde forcefully upstairs.

Nanoha was left pondering. In her entire life, she'd never met someone as brave and headstrong as the red-eye blonde. Petit pink lips curved into a small smile as the auburn-hair beauty gazed mischievously over the place the blonde rebel had been earlier before returning to the tea room with her mother and the women.

* * *

><p>Fate was pacing the room, using a chair as the cane to support her weight. Ever since the servant had hit her wound, she found it difficult for her to walk. She knew she was at her dead-end. They locked her in that same room and nailed wooden bars over the outer side of the door. And to top it off, a guard, who was snoring outside, was drafted in with a gun to make sure she would not escape. Fate sighed heavily. Maybe tonight would be the last night she spent breathing. She regretted her childish action and she prayed to her mother from heaven to forgive her.<p>

A quiet sound outside the window broke the blonde out of her miserable thoughts. Fate turned around to find a ladder was leaning on the windowsill and someone was climbing up. It was the girl with auburn hair, the daughter of the landlord.

Nanoha spared the blonde a glance before pushing the window open. She climbed in and tripped her damnable long frilly dress and landed on the floor with her butt. The girl quickly stood up and regained her composure but could not hide a blush creeping up her cheeks. She shyly stole a glance at Fate to find the blonde staring blankly right back at her.

"I'm running away." Nanoha finally broke the starring contest. She noted that whenever they met, she and the blonde always played this game. "Excuse me. There's something in here I need." She cautiously walked pass the stunned blonde and made her way to the dresser. "Perhaps you're wondering why I'm running away." Sapphire eyes still hadn't left burgundy as Nanoha reached behind the dresser and drew out a small key. She moved to the bed and knelt down, pulling out a black leather box. "Well, I'll tell you." She put the key to the keyhole and turned, the box opened. "I'm running away because I'm modern. I'm modern, and I'm going to a modern place. If I stay here, my mother will turn me into one of her stuffy old friends." The auburn-hair girl rummaged through a bunch of papers and pictures as if she was finding something to show the blonde. "No, thank you. I'm a little more interesting than that. I'm very smart, and I'm very modern. That's all you need to know about me."

Fate listened to the shorter girl's ramble half-heartedly. What the girl was saying confused her. Why would she want to run away from all this? She was the landlord's only daughter, she had a huge mansion with many servants who would serve her till she be an old lady and she had plenty of land to do God-know-what. Why would she run away from this heaven?

"Girl, here! Have a look at this." Nanoha exclaimed. She drew out a piece of paper, a yellowish flyer. "Look!"

Fate stared at the paper for a moment and slowly turned her head away. She looked down at her feet, tried her best not to feel ashamed.

"Oh…You can't read, can you? How pathetic." The auburn-hair beauty felt a great sadness swept over her heart. She felt sympathetic towards the tall blonde. Not many people in this land were well-educated like her, Nanoha realized. For once in her life, she considered herself lucky to be able to go to school.

" 'Land', it says."

"Land?" The blonde turned around and looked straight into sky-like orbs. Her face was a mixture of confusion and curiosity.

" 'Wanted: strong, healthy men and women. Every resident of the United States is entitled to 160 acres of land.'" The landlord's daughter continued to read. "They've got so much of it they give it away for free." She grinned at the blonde and stretched out the paper in front of the taller girl.

"No land is given away," Fate reached out and snatched the yellow flyer away from the shorter girl's grasp. "in any part of the world." She hissed.

"In America it is..." Nanoha threw out her chest. "and I'm going there. I'm going to have a place of my own." She said defiantly, eyes sparkling like diamonds. "And I will have horses on it, and I will raise them... and I will ride them any way I please."

"What do you need more land for? You own half of Ireland as it is!" Fate scowled at the sapphire-eye beauty. She began to feel annoyed. The girl before her was talking nonsense and plus, she was having a spasm of pain rushing through her thigh. "You took it. You people did." The blonde crumpled the paper in her palm and threw it away in anger.

"I didn't take it."

"You just live here all fancied up on rent...and broken backs."

"Girl, you said you wanted land. If that's what you want, then come with me." Nanoha walked to where the violently crumpled paper landed and unfolded it. She smoothed out the hem and put it back inside her black box. "A woman dare not travel alone yet you did." She began. "You're brave, you shoot men, you step on their necks." She turned to the blonde, eyes wide in excitement. The young woman smiled a little too kindly at the red-eye rebel. "When I saw that, I realized you could be very useful to me."

"Useful?"

"Yes! You could be my serving girl."

"Oh, I see." Came the fake-comprehensive voice after a good few minutes of silence. "I could polish your boots for you."

"They will need a polish now and then." Nanoha was taken aback by how obedient the blonde suddenly be but she chose to play along.

"And I could make you a cup of tea." The blond made an act with both her hands as if she was serving tea.

"When tea time calls for it, yes."

"I'll throw the tea in your face and I'll piss on your boots before I serve you! Get out!" Fate shouted at the other girl's face and shoved her back to the still opened window. After all the girl was a landlord's daughter, she was just like them. Fate cursed herself for ever thinking that the beauty before her was different.

"I'll pay you threepence a day."

"Get out!"

Nanoha huffed and climbed out of the window. She heard the blonde mumbling something about the duel tomorrow and how she was going to honor it. How stupid! She thought. Yunno might be boring and all but there was one thing that he could go bragging about: shooting. Yes, he'd never lost a duel in his entire life. And tomorrow, the auburn beauty was sure he would burn a hole through that naïve blonde's chest.

"Ha! You'll never win this duel with Yunno. We've all seen you handle a gun." She mocked, leaning her body against the windowsill. "Girl, I'm giving you your freedom." There was a somewhat desperation in that tone, like she was begging the blonde to change her mind. Oddly, deep down inside, she didn't want the blonde to get harm. No, she didn't want to see the blonde die tomorrow. She'd just met her and she wanted to know more about the striking stranger.

"I'm of Ireland, and I'll stay in Ireland till I die."

And now she really had enough. "That's in about five hours." The landlord's daughter shouted at the impossibly stupid blonde.

Fate said no more and slammed the window shut at the irritating beauty, earning her a startled yelp from said girl. She thought of going to lie down a bit but the images of the earlier conversation with the pretty girl and tomorrow event churned her stomach. She sat down, burgundy orbs sparkling like rubies as she looked distantly at the flickering candle, the only one in the room. Fate sighed and closed her eyes. To tell the truth, she had no idea what she would do to survive tomorrow's duel.


End file.
